Mizuho bank has had a series of computer errors since it was formed by the merger of 2 large, failing Japanese banks. In the latest, the bank forgot to pay interest to account holders.
TOKYO, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Japan's Mizuho Bank, part of Mizuho Financial Group , said on Monday it had shortchanged customers on interest for some 70,000 accounts due to a systems input error -- the latest computer embarrassment for the world's biggest bank.
Here is the bit I love...
Since deposit rates in Japan are close to zero, most customers probably didn't notice -- the total interest that the bank failed to pay came to 1.4 million yen ($13,240). The most interest it failed to pay for an account was 1,890 yen, the least was one yen and the average was 19 yen.
Yup, the MOST was 1,890yen, which is less than $20, or around 10 pounds. In the summer of 2002, Mizuho cut the interest rate for deposit accounts to 0.001% per year from the previous 0.02%. A deposit of 1 million yen in the bank's ordinary deposit account will generate 10 yen a year in interest. For those not living in Japan, 10yen will give you 30 seconds or so of a local call from a phone booth.
As noted when this report came out, withdrawing money from a Mizuho ATM/cash machine 'outside hours' costs 105yen, or around 10 years of your interest on that 1 million yen (around 5,000 pounds).
Posted by Gary at February 3, 2004 10:05 AM